"Hunter Pence hit a bizarre, two-run double, Matt Cain pitched his second clincher of October and the San Francisco Giants won their record-tying sixth elimination game of the postseason, beating the defending World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals 9-0 in Game 7 of the NL championship series Monday night.

"Marco Scutaro matched an LCS record with 14 hits in the series and Pablo Sandoval drove in a run for his fifth straight game. The Giants returned to the World Series two years after winning it all, getting the final out in a downpour."

The Tigers, who swept the Yankees in the ALCS last week, now get another trip to the Bay Area. This will be the first time the two teams have ever met in the World Series.

The folks over at the San Francisco Chronicle were ecstatic. Their headline: " All the way back: Giants in World Series"

Here's more from the paper:

"On a cool late afternoon and evening that followed the first storm of autumn, the Giants gave 43,056 fans a thrill they could not enjoy in 2010, a postseason series clinching at AT&T Park.

Now, many of those fans will return for Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday night."